JP7739720B2 - Support Program - Google Patents

Description

The technical field disclosed in this specification relates to a support program that supports printer control.

A widely known technique for controlling a printer from an information processing device such as a personal computer is to generate print data using a printer driver and display a preview of the print data before sending it to the printer. Furthermore, a printer driver technique is known that generates a composite image by combining a composite image, such as a watermark or stamp, with the image to be printed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-152668

In recent years, technology has been put into practical use that controls printers using a print program built into the operating system (OS) as standard, without using the printer driver mentioned above. With this technology, the OS associates the printer with the OS's standard print program, and when a print command is subsequently received for that printer, printing can be performed using the OS's standard print program without using a printer driver.

However, the OS-standard general-purpose printing program mentioned above does not have the functionality to accept images to be combined. As a result, the images to be combined cannot be viewed on the information processing device, and the combined image created by combining the images to be combined with the image to be printed cannot be printed on the printer.

This specification discloses technology for improving the printing of composite images in an information processing device that incorporates a general-purpose printing program that is standard for the operating system.

A support program designed to solve the above-described problems is executable by a computer of an information processing device and corresponds to a printer connected to the information processing device, and causes the computer to execute an image information acquisition process that acquires, from an external device connected to the information processing device, image information indicating an image to be combined that is registered in the external device, and a sample display process that displays the image information acquired in the image information acquisition process using a user interface of the information processing device. The support program also causes the computer to execute a print process that, when a print instruction is output from an application program installed in the information processing device and instructs the printer to print an image using a general-purpose print program pre-installed in the operating system of the information processing device, causes the printer to print a composite image that is an image obtained by combining the image to be combined that is indicated in the image information acquired in the image information acquisition process and the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction, when the print settings for the print instruction include printing a composite image.

According to the support program disclosed in this specification, an information processing device acquires image information indicating an image to be combined from an external device and displays the image to be combined indicated in the image information. This allows the user to understand the content of the image to be combined on the information processing device before having the printer print the composite image. As a result, it is more likely that printing unintended by the user can be avoided.

An information processing device incorporating the above support program, a computer-readable storage medium storing the support program, and a control method for realizing the functions of the support program are also novel and useful.

The technology disclosed in this specification realizes a technique for improving the printing of composite images in an information processing device that incorporates a general-purpose printing program that is standard for the OS.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the electrical configuration of a PC. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure for a printing operation by each program. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a setting screen. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a selection receiving screen. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a preview screen. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the electrical configuration of a PC.

A personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "PC") that uses this support program will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This specification discloses a support program that runs on a PC connected to a printer with printing capabilities.

As shown in Figure 1, the PC 1 of this embodiment is equipped with a controller 10 including a CPU 11 and memory 12. The PC 1 is an example of an information processing device. The CPU 11 is an example of a computer. The PC 1 also has a user interface (hereinafter referred to as "user IF") 13 and a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as "communication IF") 14, which are electrically connected to the controller 10. Note that the controller 10 in Figure 1 is a general term for the hardware and software used to control the PC 1, and does not necessarily represent a single piece of hardware actually present in the PC 1.

The CPU 11 executes various processes in accordance with programs read from the memory 12 and based on user operations. The memory 12 stores various programs, including various application programs (hereinafter referred to as "apps"), and various data. The memory 12 is also used as a work area when various processes are executed. The buffer provided by the CPU 11 is also an example of memory. Note that examples of the memory 12 are not limited to ROM, RAM, HDD, etc. built into the PC 1, but may also be storage media that the CPU 11 can read and write, such as recording media such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM.

User IF 13 includes hardware that displays a screen to notify the user of information, and hardware that accepts user operations. User IF 13 may be a combination of a display capable of displaying information and a mouse or keyboard with input acceptance functionality, or it may be a touch panel with display and input acceptance functionality.

The communication IF 14 includes hardware for communicating with external devices such as the printer 2. The communication IF 14 supports communication standards such as Ethernet (registered trademark), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), and USB. The PC 1 may be equipped with multiple communication IFs 14 that support multiple communication standards.

As shown in FIG. 1, the memory 12 of the PC 1 stores an operating system (hereinafter referred to as "OS") 21 including a general-purpose printing program 41, an auxiliary program 42, and an editing application 43. The auxiliary program 42 is an example of a support program. The editing application 43 is an example of an application program. The OS 21 is, for example, Windows (registered trademark), macOS (registered trademark), Linux (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), or Android (registered trademark).

The general-purpose printing program 41 is an OS-standard program that causes various printers, such as printer 2, to print based on user instructions. In this embodiment, the general-purpose printing program 41 is a program that includes a function for generating intermediate image data based on the image data to be printed.

The generic printing program 41 supports functions that can be used in common by multiple printer models provided by various printer vendors. The generic printing program 41 does not support all of the specific functions that each printer has, and the functions it supports are limited to generic ones.

The auxiliary program 42 is a program or group of programs that executes processing based on instructions from the OS 21 in conjunction with the processing of the general-purpose printing program 41, and is an application that supports the control of the target hardware. In this embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 corresponds to the model of the printer 2 connected to the PC 1, and is launched from the general-purpose printing program 41 when, for example, an instruction to cause the printer 2 to print using the general-purpose printing program 41 is received. The auxiliary program 42 is called, for example, a hardware support application (abbreviated as HSA).

The auxiliary program 42 can accept multiple types of commands from the general-purpose printing program 41 and executes various processes based on the accepted commands. Note that the auxiliary program 42 may be a combination of multiple programs that each accept execution commands, or it may be a single program that can execute different processes depending on the commands.

The auxiliary program may be a program prepared by the printer vendor for each printer type. For example, an auxiliary program for inkjet printers and an auxiliary program for laser printers may be prepared separately. For example, when a new printer is connected to PC1, OS21 of PC1 downloads the appropriate auxiliary program from a server or the like according to the type of connected printer and installs it into its own device. OS21 then associates the identification information of the installed auxiliary program with the printer information of the newly connected printer and stores it in memory 12. Note that auxiliary programs are not limited to being prepared for each printer type, and there may also be auxiliary programs prepared for each printer model or series of printer models.

The editing application 43 is, for example, an application for creating and editing image data and document data. The editing application 43 may be, for example, Microsoft® Word or PowerPoint, or an application provided by the printer 2 vendor. The editing application 43 accepts user operations including instructions to cause the printer 2 to perform a specified operation. Specifically, the editing application 43 accepts, via the user IF 13, a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to print, for example.

The printer 2 in this embodiment is a device with printing capabilities. The PC 1 can communicate with the printer 2 via the communication IF 14. The printer 2 receives print data from, for example, the PC 1, and performs printing based on the received print data.

Next, the printing procedure, including the operation of the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment, will be described with reference to the sequence diagram in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows the operation when an application that accepts print instructions, such as an editing application 43, accepts a print execution instruction to cause the printer 2 to print using the general-purpose print program 41, and when the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to the printer 2 is installed in the PC 1.

Note that the processes and each processing step in the flowchart in this embodiment basically represent processing by the CPU 11 in accordance with instructions written in a program such as the auxiliary program 42. Processing by the CPU 11 also includes hardware control using the API of the OS 21. In this specification, detailed description of the OS 21 will be omitted and the operation of each program will be explained. Also, the term "obtain" is used as a concept that does not necessarily require a request.

The editing application 43 accepts the creation and editing of text, charts, etc. based on user instructions. When the editing application 43 accepts an instruction to print selected text, etc. (A01), it displays a print screen on the user IF 13 for accepting instructions from the user (A02). On the print screen, the editing application 43 accepts, for example, an instruction to execute printing, an instruction to set basic print settings, and an instruction to start accepting detailed print settings.

When the editing application 43 receives an instruction to start accepting detailed print settings while printer 2 is selected on the currently displayed print screen (A03), it passes information about the received detailed setting instruction to the OS 21. When the OS 21 receives an instruction for detailed settings related to printing using the general-purpose printing program 41, it executes the general-purpose printing program 41 and passes an instruction to start accepting detailed print settings to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A04). When the general-purpose printing program 41 receives the instruction to start accepting detailed print settings, it passes an instruction to execute acceptance of detailed print settings to the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to printer 2, the currently selected printer (A05).

The auxiliary program 42 starts operation based on an execution instruction from the general-purpose printing program 41, and displays a settings screen on the user IF 13 to accept input operations for detailed print settings (A06). A06 is an example of a settings screen display process. The auxiliary program 42 displays a screen to accept compatible detailed settings based on, for example, the model information of the printer 2, and accepts user operations.

An example of a settings screen is shown in Figure 3. The settings screen 100 in the example of Figure 3 has multiple tabs. The settings screen 100 shown in Figure 3 is an example of a screen in which the basic tab 101, which accepts basic print settings, is selected. The settings screen 100 has a composite tab 102 for accepting instructions to combine an image such as a watermark with the image to be printed. Note that the composite instruction does not necessarily have to be accepted via a tab, but may also be accepted by operating a button, etc.

Furthermore, after starting to display the setting screen 100 in A06, the auxiliary program 42 requests function information from the printer 2 via the communication IF 14 (A11) and receives the function information from the printer 2 (A12). A12 is an example of function information acquisition processing. The function information includes information indicating whether the printer 2 has a transmission function for responding with image information.

In this embodiment, the printer 2 accepts registration of images to be combined with the image to be printed by instructions from the PC 1 or read from a USB memory, and stores the accepted images in the printer 2's memory. The printer 2 stores multiple types of intermediate image data representing images for watermarks, for example. In response to a request from the PC 1 or the like, the printer 2 can respond with image information representing the images to be combined stored in the printer 2's memory.

If the auxiliary program 42 determines, based on the function information received in A12, that the printer 2 has the function of responding with image information (alt: [Yes]), it requests image information from the printer 2 (A13) and receives the image information from the printer 2 (A14). The auxiliary program 42 then stores the received image information in memory 12. In this case, the printer 2 is an example of an external device, and A14 is an example of image information acquisition processing. If the printer 2 does not store any usable images for composition, it can simply respond in A14 with information indicating that there is no image information. By acquiring image information when the setting screen 100 for accepting detailed settings is displayed, processing after accepting a print instruction can be completed more quickly than if the image information were acquired when the print instruction was accepted.

For example, if multiple printers are connected to PC1, PC1 can acquire image information registered with the printers that will perform printing, allowing it to manage the images to be combined that are appropriate for each printer. The image information sent from the printers may be the image data of the images to be combined themselves, or may be reduced images showing the images to be combined, such as thumbnail images.

Note that communication between the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 may be performed by the auxiliary program 42 directly communicating with the printer 2 using, for example, an MIB (short for Management Information Base), or via the OS 21. When communicating via the OS 21, the auxiliary program 42 and the printer 2 communicate in accordance with the OS 21's communication protocol, such as IPP (short for Internet Printing Protocol).

When the auxiliary program 42 receives an instruction to combine images by operating the combine tab 102 on the settings screen 100 displayed in A06 (A21), it displays a selection acceptance screen on the user IF 13 to accept the selection of images to be combined (A22). The selection acceptance screen is a screen for accepting the selection of images to be combined based on image information acquired from the printer 2. Note that the auxiliary program 42 may execute A11 to A14 again when it accepts the instruction to combine A21. Alternatively, the auxiliary program 42 may execute A11 to A14 after it accepts the instruction to combine A21.

An example of the selection acceptance screen is shown in Figure 4. The selection acceptance screen 50 in the example of Figure 4 includes a list of images to be combined 51, a sample image 52, and an OK button 53. In the list of images to be combined 51, a list of image information obtained from the printer 2 is displayed as a list of images to be combined, and for example, the name of each image is displayed so that it can be selected. The auxiliary program 42 accepts a selection instruction from the user in the list of images to be combined 51 on the selection acceptance screen 50 that is currently displayed (A23). A23 is an example of selection processing. Since it is possible to select images to be combined from multiple image information, the degree of freedom in the composite image is increased, improving convenience.

The auxiliary program 42 displays a sample image 52 (A24) based on the image information of the image to be combined selected in A23. A24 is an example of sample display processing. The sample image 52 is an image showing a print image of the selected image to be combined. Note that when no image to be combined is selected, the sample image 52 is a blank image. Alternatively, in the initial state of the selection reception screen 50, as shown in Figure 4, any image may be selected and that image may be displayed.

The auxiliary program 42 changes and displays the sample image 52 in response to user operations on the selection reception screen 50. By displaying the image to be combined itself based on the image information received from the printer 2, it is easier for the user to understand the image to be combined compared to when only the name and thumbnail image of the image to be combined are displayed. Note that in the example of Figure 4, only the name of the image is displayed in the list of images to be combined 51, but each sample image may also be displayed as a thumbnail image, for example.

When the auxiliary program 42 receives an instruction to end the selection of images to be combined by operating the OK button 53 on the selection receiving screen 50 (A25), it determines the selected images as the images to be combined and closes the selection receiving screen 50 (A26). The auxiliary program 42 returns to the display of the basic tab 101 shown in FIG. 3, for example. Then, when an instruction to end the detailed settings is received by operating the OK button shown in FIG. 3, for example, the auxiliary program 42 ends the display of the settings screen 100 and passes the selected print settings and a completion notification to the general-purpose printing program 41. The print settings include information related to the combination of images, and the information related to the combination of images includes information specifying the images to be combined and information indicating the combination form, such as position information. Upon receiving the completion notification from the auxiliary program 42, the general-purpose printing program 41 passes the completion notification to the editing application 43.

If the auxiliary program 42 determines, based on the function information received in A12, that the printer 2 does not have the function to respond with image information, it does not execute the processes in A13 to A26. In other words, the auxiliary program 42 does not accept an instruction to combine images. If the printer 2 does not have the function to send image information, the auxiliary program 42 cannot obtain image information for the images to be combined, and therefore omits communication with the printer 2 to obtain image information and display of the image information. This reduces the processing load on the auxiliary program 42.

When the editing application 43 receives a print instruction from the user on the print screen (A31), it passes the print instruction to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A32). The general-purpose printing program 41 obtains, in the print instruction, information indicating the image data to be printed and information indicating the print settings.

The general-purpose printing program 41 generates intermediate image data by converting the format of the image data included in the received print instruction into the format of intermediate image data (A33), and generates a print job that includes the intermediate image data. The image data included in the editing application 43 can be of various types, and the general-purpose printing program 41 converts the received image data into intermediate image data suitable for generating print data. Note that if the image data included in the print instruction is suitable for generating print data, the generation of intermediate image data can be omitted and the data can be used as intermediate image data as is. The intermediate image data is, for example, XPS data.

The general-purpose printing program 41 further outputs an execution instruction to the auxiliary program 42 (A34), causing the auxiliary program 42 to operate. In the execution instruction, the generated intermediate image data and print setting information are passed to the auxiliary program 42. Note that when an image compositing instruction is received as a print setting, the print setting information passed to the auxiliary program along with the intermediate image data includes, for example, information regarding image compositing, such as information specifying the images to be combined and information indicating the compositing form, such as position information.

If the print settings include an instruction to combine images, the auxiliary program 42 combines the images based on the intermediate image data and information related to combining received in A34 (A35). Specifically, the auxiliary program 42 reads from memory 12 the image information acquired from the printer 2 in A14 based on information specifying the image to be combined, which is included in the print settings, and generates intermediate image data of the image to be combined based on the read image information and information indicating the combining form, such as position information. Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 combines the generated image to be combined with the intermediate image data of the image to be printed. At this time, the image information acquired from the printer 2 is, for example, intermediate image data of the image to be combined.

Note that information related to image compositing, including information specifying the images to be combined and information indicating the combination form, such as position information, does not need to be included in the print settings of the general-purpose print program 41. In this case, for example, when the auxiliary program 42 receives an instruction to end the selection of images to be combined in A25, it stores information related to the combination of this image in memory 12, and reads it from memory 12 before combining the image in A35.

Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 displays a preview screen on the user IF 13, which displays a preview of the composited image (A36). A36 is an example of sample display processing. An example of a preview screen is shown in FIG. 5. The preview screen 60 in the example of FIG. 5 includes a preview image 61, a print button 62, and a print cancel button 63. The preview image 61 is an image showing a print image obtained by combining the image to be printed and the selected image to be combined. By displaying a sample of the image obtained by combining the image to be printed and the image to be combined, it is easier for the user to grasp the composite image that will result in printing, compared to when only image information before combination is displayed.

The auxiliary program 42 accepts operation of the print button 62 or the print cancel button 63 on the displayed preview screen 60. When the auxiliary program 42 accepts an instruction to execute printing by operating the print button 62 (alt: [Print]), it performs rasterization based on the combined intermediate image data and generates print data representing the image to be printed (A41). The print data generated in A41 is data in a format that can be used for printing by the printer 2, for example, PDL data dedicated to the model of the printer 2.

Rasterizing using the auxiliary program 42 corresponding to printer 2 allows for greater flexibility than rasterizing using the general-purpose print program 41, and is more likely to generate print data suitable for printing on printer 2. Note that the print data generated by auxiliary program 42 may also be in a format that can be used for printing on printers other than the printer 2 model.

Instead of the auxiliary program 42 generating the print data, the general-purpose printing program 41 may generate the print data. In other words, when the auxiliary program 42 receives a print instruction, it may pass print execution information to the general-purpose printing program 41. In this case, the auxiliary program 42 passes the intermediate image data combined in A35 and print execution information to the general-purpose printing program 41. The general-purpose printing program 41 rasterizes the intermediate image data received from the auxiliary program 42 to generate print data. The general-purpose printing program 41 may then pass the generated print data to the auxiliary program 42.

The print data generated by the general-purpose printing program 41 is in a format that can be used for printing on various printers, such as PWGRaster data or PDF data. If the data is rasterized using the general-purpose printing program 41, the processing by the auxiliary program 42 is reduced, which is expected to avoid increases in processing time and reduce the program size of the auxiliary program 42.

After generating print data in A41, the auxiliary program 42 sends the generated print data to the printer 2 along with a print command that instructs the printer to print (A42). Furthermore, when the auxiliary program 42 receives print data from the general-purpose print program 41, it sends the print data received from the general-purpose print program 41 to the printer 2 along with a print command that instructs the printer to print. The process of sending print data to the printer 2 is an example of a process for causing the printer 2 to print, and is an example of a process for sending a composite image to the printer 2. A42 is an example of a print process.

The printer 2 receives the print data and print command and prints the image of the print data based on the received print command (A43). This produces a printed copy. The auxiliary program 42 then notifies the general-purpose print program 41 that transmission of the print data has been completed.

The general-purpose printing program 41 may also send print data, etc. to the printer 2. That is, the auxiliary program 42 may pass the generated print data to the general-purpose printing program 41 so that it is sent from the PC 1 to the printer 2 as the destination. The general-purpose printing program 41 sends the print data received from the auxiliary program 42 to the printer 2. Alternatively, the general-purpose printing program 41 sends print data it has generated itself based on the combined intermediate image data received from the auxiliary program 42 to the printer 2. In this case, the process of passing the print data or the combined intermediate image data to the general-purpose printing program 41 is an example of a process for causing the printer 2 to print the combined image, and is an example of a process for sending the combined image to the printer 2.

Note that the printer 2 of this embodiment may also have a compositing function for compositing images. When a printer 2 with this function receives a compositing print command instructing compositing printing, it composites and prints the images. The compositing print command includes, for example, print data indicating the images to be printed and a specification command that specifies the images to be composited. When the printer 2 receives the compositing print command, it reads the image data of the images to be composited specified in the specification command from its memory, composites it with the received print data, and prints the composite image. In this case, the process of sending the compositing print command to the printer 2 is an example of a process for causing the printer 2 to print the composite image.

If printer 2 has a compositing function, auxiliary program 42 may generate print data for the images to be printed instead of generating print data for the composited image, and send a composite print command to printer 2 that includes the generated print data and a specification command that specifies the images to be composited. Also, if printer 2 also has a rasterization function, auxiliary program 42 may send a composite print command to printer 2 that includes intermediate image data for the images to be printed and a specification command that specifies the images to be composited, without generating print data for the images to be printed.

If the auxiliary program 42 does not perform image composition, but instead sends a composition print command to the printer 2, which then generates and prints the composite image, the load on the auxiliary program 42 is reduced. On the other hand, if the auxiliary program 42 generates a composite image and sends that composite image to the printer 2, there is no need for the printer 2 to perform composition processing, and the load on the printer 2 is reduced.

When causing a printer to generate a composite image, the auxiliary program 42 may determine whether the printer selected as the device to execute printing has the function of generating a composite image before acquiring image information. For example, if the printer does not have the compositing function, the auxiliary program 42 may not accept a compositing instruction as a print setting.

On the other hand, if an instruction to cancel printing is received by operating the print cancel button 63 on the preview screen 60 (see Figure 5) displayed in A36 (alt: [Cancel]), the auxiliary program 42 passes information to cancel the print job to the general-purpose printing program 41 (A44). As a result, the general-purpose printing program 41 cancels the print job based on the print instruction received in A32 and ends the printing process.

As explained in detail above, according to the auxiliary program 42 of this embodiment, the PC 1 acquires image information indicating the image to be combined that is stored in the printer 2, and displays the image to be combined indicated in the image information on the selection acceptance screen 50 using the user IF 13 of the PC 1. This allows the user to understand the information about the image to be combined before issuing a print instruction, thereby increasing the likelihood of avoiding printing that the user does not intend.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the images to be combined are managed by the printer 2, the images to be combined can also be used by other PCs, etc. connected to the printer 2. Therefore, the images to be combined can be shared by multiple PCs, etc.

The embodiments disclosed in this specification are merely examples and do not limit the present invention in any way. Therefore, the technology disclosed in this specification can naturally be improved and modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the device connected to PC1 is not limited to a printer, but can be any device with printing functionality, such as a multifunction device, copier, or fax machine. Furthermore, the number of printers connected to PC1 is not limited to the example shown in the figure, and can be two or more.

Furthermore, for example, an example of an external device is not limited to the printer 2, but may also be a server or the like capable of communicating with the PC 1. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the printer 2 and server 3 may be connected to the PC 1, with the server 3 storing information about images to be combined. In this configuration, the auxiliary program 42 makes requests A11 and A13 in FIG. 2 to the server 3. The server 3 responds with A12 and A14 in response to the request from the PC 1. The auxiliary program 42 performs processing from A22 onwards based on the image information obtained from the server 3, and accepts the user's selection of images to be combined. If the information about images to be combined is managed by the server, the printer's memory capacity may be small. On the other hand, if the information about images to be combined is managed by the printer, images to be combined can be used even in a small printing system that does not have a server.

Also, for example, auxiliary program 42 may be able to acquire information about images to be combined from multiple external devices. For example, auxiliary program 42 may issue requests A11 and A13 in FIG. 2 to connected printers and servers, and acquire information about images to be combined from each device that responds.

Furthermore, the image information that the auxiliary program 42 obtains from the printer 2 at A14 in Figure 2 does not have to be intermediate image data; for example, it may be image data in a format that can be directly combined with print data. In this case, the accuracy of the display of the sample image 52 is improved. The auxiliary program 42 can generate print data and then combine the image with that print data.

Furthermore, the display screens shown in the figures are merely examples and are not limited to these. For example, the layout and expression of each image and each button are not limited to the examples shown. For example, the selection acceptance screen 50 shown in FIG. 4 displays a list 51 of images to be combined and a sample image 52 on one screen, but the auxiliary program 42 may display these on separate screens. Furthermore, the auxiliary program 42 does not need to perform the preview display at A36 in FIG. 2.

In addition, in this embodiment, the auxiliary program 42 acquires all image information stored in the printer 2 in A14 of FIG. 2, but this is not limited to this. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may acquire only the name or thumbnail information of selectable images to be combined in A14, and when a selection acceptance screen is displayed and an image selection by the user is accepted, acquire the image information of the selected image.

In addition, the auxiliary program 42 may request not only function information and image information, but also, for example, information regarding the capabilities of the printer 2 at A11 or A13 in FIG. 2. In this case, the printer 2 responds with various information in response to the request. The auxiliary program 42 may display a screen that accepts user settings based on the various information obtained from the printer 2.

In addition, in the embodiment, only the printing operation is described in detail as the operation of the auxiliary program 42, but the auxiliary program 42 may have other roles as well. Furthermore, the program that executes the processing of this embodiment is not limited to the auxiliary program 42, but may be any program that accepts instructions from the OS 21 or the general-purpose print program 41 when printing using the general-purpose print program 41. For example, it may be a print workflow application (Print workflow) whose specifications have been published by Microsoft.

Furthermore, the execution timing of the auxiliary program 42 is not limited to that of the embodiment. For example, the auxiliary program 42 may be executed in response to a direct execution instruction from the OS 21, or the auxiliary program 42 may be resident. If the auxiliary program 42 is resident, it may simply receive an execution command and perform the operations described above.

Furthermore, in any of the flowcharts disclosed in the embodiments, the execution order of multiple processes in any of the steps can be arbitrarily changed or can be executed in parallel, as long as no contradictions occur in the processing content.

Furthermore, the processes disclosed in the embodiments may be executed by hardware such as a single CPU, multiple CPUs, or an ASIC, or a combination of these. Furthermore, the processes disclosed in the embodiments may be realized in various ways, such as a recording medium on which a program for executing the processes is recorded, or a method.

1 PC
2 Printer 3 Server 11 CPU
13 User IF

Claims (8)

A support program executable by a computer of an information processing device, the support program corresponding to a printer connected to the information processing device,
The computer,
When an application program installed in the information processing device receives an operation, a first execution instruction is received from a general-purpose printing program installed in advance in an operating system of the information processing device.
an image information acquisition process for acquiring image information indicating an image to be combined, which is registered in an external device connected to the information processing device, from the external device using a communication protocol different from the communication protocol used in the general-purpose printing program;
a sample display process for displaying the image information acquired in the image information acquisition process using a user interface of the information processing device;
a notification process for notifying the general-purpose print program of print settings for the composite image and information specifying the image information displayed by the sample display process in response to receiving the selection of the image for composition;
Execute
Furthermore, the computer
After the sample display process and the notification process are executed, if a print instruction is output from the application program installed in the information processing device, the print instruction being to cause the printer to print an image to the general-purpose print program installed in advance in the operating system of the information processing device, and a print setting for a composite image is set in print settings for a second execution instruction output from the general-purpose print program in response to the output of the print instruction, in which the image information displayed by the sample display process is used as the image for composition,
execute a printing process for causing the printer to print a composite image, which is an image obtained by combining the image to be combined shown in the image information acquired in the image information acquisition process and the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction;
A support program characterized by: 2. The support program according to claim 1,
In the image information acquisition process, a plurality of pieces of image information can be acquired,
The computer,
executing a selection process for accepting, using the user interface, a selection of one piece of image information from the image information acquired in the image information acquisition process;
In the sample display process,
displaying at least the image information selected in the selection process using the user interface;
In the printing process,
performing the process for causing the printer to print the composite image, which is an image obtained by combining the image to be combined shown in the image information selected in the selection process and the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction;
A support program characterized by: The support program according to claim 1 or 2,
The computer,
Execute a setting screen display process to display a setting screen for accepting input operations of print settings using the user interface;
Furthermore, the computer
executing the image information acquisition process based on the display of the setting screen by the setting screen display process;
A support program characterized by: 4. The support program according to claim 1,
In the sample display process,
displaying the image to be synthesized, which is indicated in the image information acquired in the image information acquisition process, using the user interface;
A support program characterized by: 5. The support program according to claim 1,
In the printing process,
the processing for causing the printer to print the composite image includes generating the composite image and performing processing for transmitting the generated composite image to the printer, and the printer performs printing based on the composite image when receiving the composite image;
A support program characterized by: 5. The support program according to claim 1,
In the printing process,
As the process for causing the printer to print the composite image, a process is performed for transmitting to the printer a designation command designating one of the image information and the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction, and when the printer receives the designation command, the printer generates the composite image by combining the image to be combined indicated in the image information designated by the designation command and the image to be printed in accordance with the print instruction, and prints the generated composite image.
A support program characterized by: 7. The support program according to claim 1,
In the image information acquisition process,
acquiring the image information from the printer, which is the external device connected to the information processing device;
A support program characterized by: 8. The support program according to claim 7,
The computer,
executes a function information acquisition process to acquire function information indicating whether the printer has a transmission function for transmitting the image information;
Furthermore, the computer
If the function information indicating that the transmission function is present is acquired in the function information acquisition process, the image information acquisition process and the sample display process are executed;
If the function information indicating that the transmission function is not present is acquired in the function information acquisition process, the image information acquisition process and the sample display process are not executed.
A support program characterized by: